Luckily, the museum has a talented team of preservationists and craftspeople dedicated to the cause. Below are a selection of projects that are underway on PEM’s campus:

Ropes Mansion (318 Essex Street)
Work is finishing up this fall reglazing the Ropes greenhouse with safety glass. This will improve the performance of the building overall and solve the chronic problem of glass slippage, breakage and leaks.

Cotting-Smith Assembly House (138 Federal Street)
The museum will continue its work designing and replacing a missing balustrade that was once installed above the house’s portico but was removed in the early 20th century. How do we know about it? This detail was almost lost to history, but appears in two historic photographs in PEM’s collection.

Peirce-Nichols House (80 Federal Street)
This fall, work continues on the house's roof and balustrade project. We have now moved to the casting phase for the balustrade components after a long and involved process of figuring out the complicated fastening hardware and assembly details.

Crowninshield-Bentley House (126 Essex Street)
Ongoing research has uncovered new and fascinating details about the lives of the enslaved and free Black Salem community members with connections to this property in the second half of the 18th century.

Gardner-Pingree House (128 Essex Street)
Varnish touchups to the doors will be underway as well as painting of the ceilings on all three floors and in the stair hall. The ceilings will be newly painted by the end of September 2025.

John Ward House (9 Brown Street)
A casement window restoration project was completed and all four of the remaining restored windows have now been installed.

Andrew-Safford House (13 Washington Square)
By spring 2026, wooden elements on the front facade of the house will be repainted.

Yin Yu Tang (161 Essex Street)
In 2025, Yin Yu Tang will be undergoing work to preserve its roof tiles and masonry walls. During your visit, scaffolding may be present and work may be actively underway. Please note that the house may be intermittently closed to enable this important preservation work. Thank you in advance for your understanding.